Netflix Added Way Fewer US Subscribers Than Anyone Expected- Netflix announced it earned $0.09 per share in Q2 with revenue of $2.11 billion. Analysts had expected earnings per share of $0.03 at the same level of revenue.- Netflix also announced it now has 83.18 million subscribers worldwide.- Of concern to investors, the company missed its subscriber growth projections, adding only 160,000 subscribers domestically, and 1.52 million abroad. Previous guidance expected 500,000 and 2 million, respectively.- Netflix CEO Reed Hastings cited increases in subscription prices as driving increased subscriber churn, resulting in the lower overall subscription numbers, however Hastings remained confident stating: "in terms of new members, which is most of what drives growth, the new pricing is working great.”

Gear Up

NCTA's final counter-offer on setttop boxes- The National Cable and Telecommunications Association filed 33 pages reponding to FCC questions about setttop boxes- Will not pledge to make DVR, FF, REW functions standard- Will not charge extra for third-party apps or boxee- Proposed HTML5 apps for third-party devices w/ all liner and on-demand programming- NOT managed over the Internet

Front Lines

Twitter will livestream weekly games from MLB and the NHL- Twitter seems to be becoming a sports network for cordcutters. It will stream a weekly MLB game worldwide, and a weekly NHL game plus a nightly sports highlights show called the Rally in the US. The NBA will create two original weekly live pregame shows for Twitter. Twitter is partnering with Campus Insiders to stream over 300 "live college events" from Mountain West Conference, Patriot League and West Coast Conference. Yes, that includes live games and competitions spanning football, basketball,and more. Twitter is also getting news and highlights from the ACC.

Redbox is testing its second attempt at a streaming service- A Redbox spokesperson told Variety Thursday that it has started testing its own streaming service called Redbox Digital. Redbox published an iPad app for the service which will sell and rent video on demand. A cast button shown in the app store listing suggests it will work with Chromecast. Variety says Redbox is also looking at Roku. Redbox launched a Netflix-like streaming service with Verizon in 2013 and shut it down 18 months later. Redbox's parent company Outerwall reports earnings this Thursday.

Netflix orders more episodes of true-crime doc series 'Making a Murderer'- Netflix has ordered more episodes (we don't know how many) of Making a Murderer which explores the defense of convicted murderer Steven Avery and his co-defendant, Brendan Dassey. AND Netflix is getting the global rights to stream season one of FX's American Crime Story: The People vs. OJ Simpson in 2017.

Comcast to offer prepaid TV and internet service- Comcast will offer prepaid Internet and TV service in its markets in the US, starting in Illinois, Michigan, Georgia, Florida and Indiana. TV subscribers will pay $80 for a starter kit then refill their subscription every 7 to 30 days for $15 or $45. No contracts no credit checks.

Amazon to invest $300 million in India to make original Prime Video content, says report- Amazon plans to launch it's Prime Video service in India this year and will invest $300 million to make original content for the market. Amazon hired veteran film producer Aparna Purohit as Head of Creative development last January. Netflix announced last month it is partnering with India's Phantom Films to make a series based on the gangster thriller novel Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra.

I am a long time listener, recent cord cutter. Before the fall season starts up, I want to get myself set up with a DVR, because I have great OTA reception where I live, BUT I want to be able to watch those recordings on my home computer sometimes too. It looks like Tivo recently stopped selling its software for this, and Channelmaster's transfer of randomly-named files sounds odious. What solution am I missing?

Brian, I too am a fan of having closed captioning on. I've come to notice another benefit to closed captioning. In Preacher, in the scene when young Tulip over hears the Jessie's dad talking on the phone. It just sounds like murmuring, but CC spells it out for you. Also, there was a movie where the tv was on in the background with no sound, but CC showed what the Reporter was saying, which was pertinent to the show.

- Chris

I'm in the process of cutting the cord. The main problem is that my wife likes the Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies Channel. Is there a place to stream these without a cable/satellite subscription? Thanks love the information you provide.

- Robert

It is a sad day. No more VCR. :-( I guess i can finally throw away that box of Disney movies I have.